NFL to play Black anthem before national anthem
“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” will be performed live or played before “The Star-Spangled Banner” prior to each NFL game during Week 1. The league is also considering putting names of victims of police brutality on helmet decals or jersey patches, a person familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press.
“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” is traditionally known as the Black anthem. It will be played first when the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans to kick off the NFL regular season on Sept. 10.
Supreme Court lifts ban on state aid to religious schooling
States can’t cut religious schools out of programs that send public money to private education, a divided Supreme Court ruled.
By a 5-4 vote with the conservatives in the majority, the justices upheld a Montana scholarship program that allows state tax credits for private schooling in which almost all the recipients attend religious schools.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion that said the state ruling itself ran afoul of the religious freedom, embodied in the U.S. Constitution, of parents who want the scholarships to help pay for their children’s private education. “A state need not subsidize private education. But once a state decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious,” Roberts wrote.
Epstein pal arrested, accused of luring girls for sex abuse
British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested Thursday, July 2, on charges she helped lure at least three girls — one as young as 14 — to be sexually abused by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of victimizing dozens of girls and women over many years.
According to the indictment, Maxwell, who lived for years with Epstein and was his frequent companion on trips around the world, facilitated his crimes and on some occasions joined him in sexually abusing the girls.
Epstein killed himself in a federal detention center in New York last summer while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Ex-Bush officials launch super PAC backing Biden over Trump
A group of former George W. Bush administration and campaign officials have launched a new super PAC supporting Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, the latest in a growing number of Republican groups to come out in support of Biden over President Donald Trump.
The group, 43 Alumni for Biden, has recruited at least 200 former White House officials, campaign aides and Cabinet secretaries who worked under Bush to join the push against the Republican incumbent. They’re planning to roll out supportive testimonial videos featuring high-profile Republicans and launch a voter turnout effort in key states, aimed at turning out disaffected Republican voters.
The group has been in touch with the Biden campaign and other GOP groups opposed to Trump to coordinate some of its activities going forward, and it’s alerted Bush’s office of their activities, though it remains unaffiliated with the former president directly.
